3 Things To Know: Majority Support Supreme Court Term Limits, Americans Struggle to Socialize as Loneliness Abounds

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1. The majority of Americans support the idea of term limits for Supreme Court justices amid President Biden’s proposal for reforms.

Just days after dropping out of the 2024 presidential election, President Biden proposed a series of judicial reforms that includes imposing 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices. The idea is popular with Americans; 55% of respondents say they would support term limits for Supreme Court justices. Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to be in favor of the idea.

This comes at a time when CivicScience data show the majority of Americans do not approve of the actions of the current Supreme Court, and unsurprisingly, those who don’t approve are far more likely to support term limits.

The last month or so has been particularly chaotic as the election creeps ever closer. The CivicScience 2024 Election Mindset Tracker provides more in-depth consumer insights surrounding the election. Get started here .

Join the Conversation: To what extent do you support or oppose the idea of term limits for Supreme Court justices?

2. Close to 40% of Americans struggle to socialize with friends as much as they’d like to as the loneliness epidemic rages on.

A number of studies and articles published over the last few years have found that Americans are becoming less social – from 2003 to 2022, the number of hours that U.S. adults spent socializing face-to-face fell by 30% on average . According to new CivicScience data, about 40% of Americans agree that they have difficulty socializing with their friends as much as they would like to, compared with about 30% who disagree. The percentage of respondents who do not socialize with friends as much as they want to increases to 45% among Millennials and more than 50% among Gen Z adults.

The decline in face-to-face interactions is closely tied to the U.S. “loneliness epidemic .” Americans who struggle to socialize are over twice as likely to report strong feelings of loneliness compared to those who don’t. Shockwaves of the pandemic continue to reverberate – more than 1-in-3 of those who have difficulty socializing say their loneliness has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The most common reasons Americans give for their difficulties socializing are a lack of time, fatigue/a lack of energy, and conflicting work schedules.

3. Texting is increasingly the preferred method to keep in touch with friends and family.

Nearly 50% of U.S. adults now use text messages as their main way to communicate with friends and family, up from 30% who rely on phone calls. This marks a significant shift from 2014, when phone calls were the most popular method. Additionally, mobile messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, have surged in use, with 8% of respondents favoring them in 2024 compared to just 2% a decade ago.

Let Us Know: Do you prefer to text or call your immediate family members?

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